Lawyer news

• Florida anti-transgender bathroom bill moves a step closer to passing

  17-03-2015 21:51
  
  A second Florida house committee voted in favor of bill on Tuesday that would result in arrests for transgender people who use ‘wrong’ bathroom A Florida bill that would make it illegal for transgender people to use bathrooms meant for the sex other than what they were assigned at birth is one step closer to becoming a law. The government operations subcommittee of the Florida house voted in favor of the bill in a 7-4 vote on Tuesday.The HB 583 bill requires users of single-sex public restro
  
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• The four porn judges have set a new benchmark for backwardness | Zoe Williams

  17-03-2015 21:29
  
  These representatives of our notoriously stuck-in-the-past judiciary had probably just discovered the internetIt may surprise the younger reader to learn that the workplace didn’t instantly devise a policy on pornography to greet the arrival of the internet. People tended not to convey their porn to work in magazine form, so it was understood that it wasn’t part of professional life.But there was so much you could do on the web that you didn’t normally do while you were working (shopping,
  
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• Call for special tribunal to investigate war crimes and mass atrocities in Syria

  17-03-2015 20:10
  
  Amid Russian and Chinese opposition to an ICC referral, the UN commission of inquiry seeks other ways to find justice for mass crimes committed in SyriaUnited Nations war crimes investigators called on Tuesday for the establishment of a special tribunal to prosecute cases of mass atrocities in Syria, and said they had begun to share evidence and names of suspects with state and international prosecutors. The UN commission of inquiry said it would still like the UN security council to refer the
  
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• David Freeman obituary

  17-03-2015 19:08
  
  Solicitor who set up his own law firm and represented high-profile clients including Harold WilsonThere are very few husband-and-wife teams who build a successful law practice, let alone a big London one, but David and Iris Freeman did just that. A man of considerable impish charm and presence, Freeman, who has died aged 86 after suffering from leukaemia, was one of a generation of entrepreneurial Jewish solicitors – including Lords Nathan, Goodman and Mishcon and Sir David Napley – who beca
  
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• Vara ignores calls for urgent LASPO review

  17-03-2015 18:23 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Minister also hits back at ‘huge amount of misunderstanding’ over legal aid eligibility.
  
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• Vara brushes off calls for urgent LASPO review

  17-03-2015 18:23 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Minister also hits back at ‘huge amount of misunderstanding’ over legal aid eligibility.
  
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• Listed legal business ready for further acquisitions

  17-03-2015 17:53 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Fairpoint keen on further expansion after buying Leeds-headquartered Simpson Millar last year.
  
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• French parliament votes through 'deep sleep' law for terminally ill

  17-03-2015 17:47
  
  Legislation will allow patients to enter continuous sedation until death but stops short of allowing euthanasiaThe French parliament has voted overwhelmingly in favour of a law allowing terminally ill patients to cease treatment and enter a “deep sleep” until they die.The measure stops short of legalising euthanasia, which remains a divisive issue in French politics, but the government has said the law would give patients on the brink of death more control at the end of their lives. Continu
  
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• Ofcom fines BT for delay in providing text-to-voice service

  17-03-2015 17:21
  
  BT ordered to pay £800,000 after it launched service for people with hearing and speech impairments five months after April 2014 deadlineThe telecoms regulator has fined BT £800,000 for failing to provide an improved text-to-voice service for customers with hearing or speech impairments between April and September last year.
  The service, known as “next generation text service”, translates typed messages to voice or vice versa and is accessible on PCs, laptops, tablets and smartphone
  
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• Why the police won’t talk about Cyril Smith, child sex abuse and corruption | Duncan Campbell

  17-03-2015 16:30
  
  Detectives threatened with the Official Secrets Act after arresting the MP are still vulnerable: only immunity from prosecution will complete this grim puzzleCan it be true? Were detectives, who had firm evidence of child sex abuse against the late Liberal MP Cyril Smith and others in high office, threatened with the Official Secrets Act if they did not drop the case? Was a scandal quietly covered up with the connivance of the police, the intelligence services and senior politicians?The allegati
  
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• Why Met police won’t talk about Cyril Smith, child sex abuse and corruption | Duncan Campbell

  17-03-2015 16:30
  
  Detectives threatened with the Official Secrets Act after arresting the MP are still vulnerable: only immunity from prosecution will complete this grim puzzleCan it be true? Were detectives, who had firm evidence of child sex abuse against the late Liberal MP Cyril Smith and others in high office, threatened with the Official Secrets Act if they did not drop the case? Was a scandal quietly covered up with the connivance of the police, the intelligence services and senior politicians?The allegati
  
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• Inquest into alleged rape victim's suicide raises questions about CPS procedure

  17-03-2015 16:16
  
  Eleanor de Freitas had rape counselling stopped and became depressed before going on trial for perverting the course of justice, her father tells coroners’ courtA young woman with bipolar disorder who killed herself days before being put on trial for making a false rape allegation, had her counselling for rape stopped and became severely depressed as a result, her father has told an inquest.
  Eleanor de Freitas, 23, died in April last year, three days before her trial was set to start at Sou
  
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• Pakistan hangs 12 convicts as alarm grows over death sentence expansion

  17-03-2015 14:36
  
  Among more than 40 convicts scheduled to hang in next week is man whose lawyers say he was tortured into a confessionPakistan has hanged 12 convicts, an interior ministry spokesman said, amid growing alarm over plans to execute a man whose lawyers say was 14 when he was tortured into a confession of killing a child. The hangings, on Tuesday, were the largest number of people executed on the same day since an unofficial moratorium on capital punishment was lifted in December. Officials said they
  
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• Pakistan hangs 12 convicts in resumed execution programme

  17-03-2015 14:36
  
  Among more than 40 people scheduled to hang in coming weeks is convict whose lawyers say was tortured into confessingPakistan has hanged 12 convicts, an interior ministry spokesman said, amid growing alarm over plans to execute a man whose lawyers say was 14 when he was tortured into a confession of killing a child. The hangings, on Tuesday, were the largest number of people executed on the same day since an unofficial moratorium on capital punishment was lifted in December. Officials said they
  
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• Witness-informing threatens fairness, Society warns

  17-03-2015 13:50 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Crown Prosecution Service consulted on draft guidance on speaking to witnesses at court.
  
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• Appeal court reduces damages award against Sunday Times to £50,000

  17-03-2015 13:06
  
  Newspaper and its journalists say they are vindicated by judges’ decisionAn award against the Sunday Times of £180,000 libel damages to the former Conservative party co-treasurer Peter Cruddas has been cut by the appeal court to £50,000.The businessman had sued Times Newspapers and two members of the Sunday Times’s Insight team - Jonathan Calvert and Heidi Blake - over three articles published in March 2012.“This was an important public interest story. Our journalists acted wit
  
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• Rape victims with petty convictions denied compensation | Frankie Mullin

  17-03-2015 13:00
  
  The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority routinely refuses to make awards to women who have committed minor offencesPauline Doyle was gang-raped as a teenager. After the attack, life slipped increasingly from her control. She was failed by numerous agencies and, for 19 years, was addicted to heroin and crack, supporting her habit in any way she could.“I ran away from home at 14,” says Doyle (not her real name). “I went to a nightclub and someone who knew me said he had somewhere s
  
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• The hidden boxes all aspiring solicitors should tick

  17-03-2015 11:46
  
  Here’s what law firms secretly want from a trainee or vacation scheme applicant
  Law firms’ websites are clear about what they want from vacation scheme applicants and young trainees: in addition to strong academics, they want relevant work experience, commercial awareness and strong people skills, among other things.But by focusing on the following, less obvious points, you’ll meet the above criteria while standing out from the crowd. Related: You're a law student, but when did you last
  
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• Three judges removed and a fourth resigns for viewing pornography at work

  17-03-2015 11:41
  
  Judicial Conduct Investigations Office found that there had been ‘inexcusable misuse’ of the four’s judicial IT accountsThree judges have been removed and a fourth has resigned following an investigation into an allegations that they viewed pornographic material on office computers.The disciplinary inquiry was revealed by the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office, which found that there had been “inexcusable misuse” of their IT accounts. Continue reading...
  
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• Judges removed from office after viewing porn at work

  17-03-2015 11:28 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Investigation concludes conduct was ‘inexcusable misuse of judicial IT accounts and wholly unacceptable’.
  
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• Noise-induced hearing loss is a disease, rules High Court

  17-03-2015 08:18 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Judge rejects ’opportunistic attempt’ to reduce solicitors' success fees.
  
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• Noise-induced hearing loss a disease, High Court rules

  17-03-2015 08:18 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  Judge rejects ’opportunistic attempt’ to reduce solicitors' success fees.
  
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• Suspect in Ferguson, Missouri shooting of police bruised: lawyer - Yahoo News UK

  17-03-2015 02:17
  
  Yahoo News UK
  Suspect in Ferguson, Missouri shooting of police bruised: lawyer
  Yahoo News UK
  Reuters/Reuters - Jeffrey Williams is pictured in this undated booking photo provided by the St. Louis County Police Department. REUTERS/St. Louis County Police Department/Handout. By Richard Valdmanis. FERGUSON, Mo. (Reuters) - A lawyer for the ...
  
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• MPs order Ofsted to reinspect councils to check there are no 'more Rotherhams'

  17-03-2015 01:01
  
  Select committee sharply criticises inspection procedures from 2007 to 2013 in failing to uncover organised child sexual abuse until prompted by the Jay reportOfsted has been told it must reinspect hundreds of local authorities in England after an excoriating government report said the watchdog’s failure to detect evidence of widespread child sexual exploitation (CSE) in Rotherham left its credibility “on the line”.The communities and local government (CLG) select committee said it was cle
  
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• Litigation expert barred for ‘doctoring’ settlement offers

  17-03-2015 01:01 via lawgazette.co.uk
  
  SRA takes strong action against Manchester personal injury specialist.
  
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